Parallel to the phenomenal growth of the complementary and alternative medicine
movement, botanical agents have found their way into all kinds of nutritional supplements and
herbal formulae, many of which are derived from traditional Chinese herbal medicine (TCM).
More importantly, patients who take multiple herbs do not always share this information with
their healthcare providers, who may at the same time find their formal medical education in this
area to be lacking. Potential toxicities, drug-herb interactions, and the therapeutic efficacy of
herbal agents are of prime concern to many physicians. Although piecemeal information may be
available from books, news media, and journal publications, there has been no formal
educational forum to convey such vital information to the medical profession, let alone an
effective educational program to enable healthcare professionals to acquire the knowledge
necessary to properly incorporate herbal medicine into their practices, or to pursue research in
this field. This course is specifically created to fill that void. Currently, this course is in its
seventeenth successful year, and it is the only course of its kind.

Comprehensive coverage:

The combination of a multimedia home-study program, seminars, hands-on workshops
and laboratories, herbal tour, clinical runs with actual case analyses, etc. allows the participants
to obtain up to 280 hours of intensive training in the span of about 6 months, encompassing key
areas essential in acquiring a sound knowledge base of Chinese herbal medicine.

Herbal medicine will be examined not only in terms of the tenets and principles of the
time-tested discipline of traditional Chinese medicine, but also on the basis of modern medical
science. Important topics in modern scientific research and evidence-based practice will also be
presented.

Unique features:

This educational program is unique in many ways. TCM, the venerated science of
healing, is approached with a modern theoretical framework. Special teaching tools are
employed to facilitate learning. Much of the information contained in this course is not available
from other sources.